


Good First Impressions

by orphan_account



Series: Trace and Ballistics [1]
Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-05-01 21:12:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5221025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Takes place directly before Season 7 Episode 18, "Empty Eyes".</p>
    </blockquote>





	Good First Impressions

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place directly before Season 7 Episode 18, "Empty Eyes".

Clocking in on Grave shift was definitely going to wreck with her sleep schedule, thought Natalia McCoy as she entered the Las Vegas Crime Lab for the first time. Briefly consulting a map, she made for the office of Supervisor Gil Grissom.

She oscillated about a foot from the office door, noting the closed door and the woman with strawberry-blonde hair talking animatedly with the man behind the desk, presumably Dr. Grissom. After reassuring herself that she wasn't interrupting anything urgent, Natalia knocked on the door-frame, catching the attention of both CSIs. The strawberry-blonde, who had been standing, opened he door for her. Her eyes were bright blue, and she smiled, though the action looked like more of an reflex than a conscious decision. She held the door for Natalia as she left, and the lab tech smiled shyly in return and murmured a quiet "thank you".

Natalia met the eyes of Gil Grissom unflinchingly, which surprised the supervisor. The woman in front of him couldn't be more than 35, dressed professionally, with a black high-necked blouse and black slacks under a sandy-brown suede leather jacket that matched her wavy, sandy-brown hair. Her eyes were a dark brown that almost looked black, which jarred her average, pale face even more than the crooked smile that crossed it while she looked around his office.

"Entomologist?" The word was a question, and quiet enough that Gil could barely hear it. The woman was obviously soft spoken. From the way she looked ready to speak and yet didn't, she was also obviously used to being talked over. Grissom felt a twinge of sympathy for her.

"As a hobby," he replied with a smile. "You must be Natalia McCoy."

She smiled ruefully. "Yep. Transfer from Cleveland. Ballistics tech. It's an honour, Dr. Grissom."

The information is nothing that he didn't already know, and she knows it, but he nods anyway. "Well, everyone else is in the break room for pre-shift coffee, so if you will just follow me, we'll have introductions and find someone to show you around."

Natalia nodded, opening the door for him and standing aside to let him lead her. As she followed, she watched the lab out of the corner of her eye, noting that almost everything could be seen from through the glass walls. Nat couldn't see the ballistics lab, which was probably on the safe side considering all the glass. The isolation was nothing new, she acknowledged, but it still chaffed.

The break room was bigger than she expected, and it was crowded. The woman from earlier was talking to a tall African American man, while a younger brunette woman was talking with two men. Nat idly noticed that one of the men looked significantly younger than just about everyone in the room. Every one of them held a cup or mug in their hands.

As Grissom entered the room, the brunette turned, smiling, though her enthusiasm morphed into curiosity as she saw Natalia.

"Grissom? Who is this?" The younger man was the one who spoke first, and Natalia subconsciously stiffened, ready for criticism. However, she was surprised when he continued, "I'd remember if there was anyone as pretty as her in the lab."

Everyone reacted about the same, rolling their eyes or shaking their head. Apparently, this one was a subconscious flirt. Natalia smiled a little, amused.

"Everyone, this is Natalia McCoy," Grissom began. "She's our new ballistics tech, just transferred." Looking sideways at Nat, he added, "Some advice, Natalia: Ignore Greg. He's pathologically flirtatious."

The afore-mentioned Greg protested, "Not on purpose!" Which caused everyone to laugh.

The man standing next to the brunette extended his hand first. "Nick Stokes. Isn't Natalia a Russian name?"

Nat smiled as she shook his hand. "My grandmother was, and she insisted on the name. Just Nat is okay." 

"Do you speak any Russian?" Asked the brunette, though she didn't extend a hand to shake. "Oh, and I'm Sara Sidle."

"Polite how-do-you-dos, mostly," Natalia replied with a shrug. "And some not-so polite language my cousins taught me."

"Eto pozor," Grissom interjected. (That's a shame.)

Natalia grinned. "Yego vse yeshche zabavno." (It's still amusing.)

The strawberry blonde rolled her eyes. "Yes, because having secret conversations in front of us all is real mature. Catherine Willows," she said, though her extended hand contained a paper cup full of coffee.

Natalia accepted the cup gratefully, taking a cautious sip, and almost sighed with bliss. She recognized Blue Hawaiian when she tasted it, and wasn't about to take it for granted. "Who bought this coffee?"

Greg smiled. "I did. And, for proper introductions, I'm Greg Sanders."

"Takk, Greg Sanderson," she thanked him, taking another sip of coffee. Everyone else looked confused, but Greg just smiled and shook his head while Grissom nodded approvingly.

Nat then turned to the tall African American man, who still hadn't introduced himself. "What's your name?"

"Warrick Brown," he said, also extending a hand. Nat shook it firmly. It wasn't lost on her that he hadn't introduced himself until prompted, and she was determined to be as friendly as she could.

"Ballistics, huh?" Warrick asked in an attempt for small talk.

Nat smirked, though anyone who knew her would say that it was a smile as far as she was concerned. "I had an unhealthy obsession with guns as a child. I'm also mildly OCD, so I notice things that are out of place. I have no intention, however, of shooting anything that isn't a stationary target."

"I can't say that's reassuring," snarked a new voice from the doorway. Natalia pivoted, and then she raised an eyebrow, her inner mind making a sound of approval as she looked him over. The man in the doorway was certainly older than Natalia, even with his childish smirk that made his grey hairs look premature. His eyes, which were studying Natalia as intently as she was studying him, were a strange combination of blue, grey and green, which reminded her of the aptly named Lake Erie.

Nat arched an eyebrow. "It's not really my job to be reassuring, is it? Who are you?"

The man smirked at Nat, then turned to Grissom. "I was pleasantly surprised when you paged me, so, what can I do for you, boss?"

Grissom was smirking, which Nat found troubling. From experience, she knew that when your superior is smirking, it meant something potentially embarrassing was imminent. "Hodges, this is Natalia McCoy. She's our new Ballistics tech. Nat, this is David Hodges, the Trace technician. Hodges, I need you to show Natalia around, introduce her to the other lab techs, and so forth."

Hodges looked mildly amused at the idea, while Natalia simply looked unimpressed. This looked too much like a rite of passage. Survive being tutored by David Hodges, and you're a keeper.

 _If not, well, they are the second-highest rated crime lab in the nation. Surely_ , Natalia thought, _I'm replaceable_.

At least, she thought so until Grissom looked at Hodges (or David? Should she be on first-name basis with this guy?) very sternly and said, "Be polite, Hodges. This is the third one in as many weeks."

"Best behaviour. Got it, boss," David replied. Then he held out his arm as if they were suddenly in a Shakespeare play , or perhaps some 19th century literature.

Natalia looked from him to his arm, then to his face again. Rolling her eyes, she took his arm anyway. David (Yes, definitely David,) lead her into a room that she presumed was his office, since no one else was there, and he quickly texted something into his cellphone. Once he sent it, he looked at Natalia like she was something under his microscope.

"Natalia McCoy," he drawled, as if he was tasting a new food and it confused him. "An interesting name, that. Is there a story there?"

Nat shrugged, turning away from him to look at his office. "Mom's family is from Russia and Dad lives in Ohio. Not much of a story, if you ask me."

David's head tilted, a look crossing his face that reminded Nat of a Starfleet-uniform-wearing-android. "Ohio? Huh. Never actually met anyone from Ohio before."

"Aside from the glory that is Cosi and the unpredictable rainstorms, there's not much to miss," she admitted, carefully putting a 'good first impressions' smile on her face as four other people walked into the room.

The Asian man caught Natalia's attention first, mostly because he was humming the first few bars of the theme from Star Trek: Enterprise. Two of the others were females with dark hair; one with glasses and one without, and both were moderately pretty. The last man was extremely nerdy-looking, missing the stereotypical glasses but making up for it with an unfairly prominent nose and the face of a man who is trying painfully hard to fit in and failing, miserably.

"Hodges, who's this?" Asked the woman-sans-glasses. Before David could introduce her himself, Natalia extended a hand to the woman who had spoken.

"Natalie McCoy." As predicted, Nat saw the Asian man's eyes light up, and though she couldn't see it, she could almost feel David's confused look when she said her name. "I'm the new ballistics tech. I just transferred from Cleveland. What are your names?"

The woman who spoke smiled in a way that screamed 'Be kind and make new friends!' "I'm Wendy Simms, and I work in DNA. This is Mandy Webster, she runs fingerprints." The woman with glasses waved a little, and the Asian man shook Nat's hand when Wendy released it.

"Archie Johnson," he introduced himself. "A/V surveillance. Quick question: who's your favorite captain?"

Nat smiled. "Sisko, but Picard gives him a run for his money. Yours?"

"Kirk," Archie admitted with a smile.

"Classic. Nice."

"Personally," David cut in, "I prefer Janeway."

Natalia turned to him, raising both eyebrows in an expression of delighted surprise. "There's hope for you yet, David," she told him, smiling like it was an inside joke. However, she turned to the last man and asked, polite with practiced ease, "And who might you be?"

He looked absolutely delighted to have been singled out of the group. "Um, I'm Henry, Henry Andrews. I run Tox."

"Yes, well, if formalities are all out of the way, we need to get McCoy to her new office," David interjected. "If you'll follow me." Natalia waved good-bye to the four lab techs as David dragged her by her other hand though the lab's hallways.

"What exactly was that?" David whispered as their pace slowed, approaching the ballistics lab.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Natalia replied coolly as she pushed open the door.

"Ha. Very cute, _Natalie_."

"Don't call me that," she countered, absentmindedly drifting over to the rifle rack. With her back still to David, she continued, "To them, I am the average and forgettable Natalie. To you, I am Natalia. I am me. See the difference?"

If Natalia had been facing David, she would have seen the sudden smile of comprehension. However, David Hodges simply said, "So, this is your lab. CSIs usually return from their crimes scenes after a minimum of two and a half hours, so take your time settling in."

He gives her a small, genuine-looking smile, and exits. Natalia watches the doorway for a moment, then spoke aloud: "I have the strangest new work atmosphere on the face of the earth. I like it."

**Author's Note:**

> I am really sorry if my Russian lines here are in any way incorrect. I have no beta, and am left to the mercies of Google translate.


End file.
